Doris Fein: Quartz Boyar and Phantom of the Casino

In Doris Fein: Quartz Boyar, Doris becomes a courier for a top-secret agency.  Her employers are not entirely honest with Doris, so she has no idea of the delicate nature of her task or of the grave danger that faces her.  By the end of the story, Doris is highly annoyed with the situation.

I did not enjoy this book as much as the previous book.  I never care much for books that involve constant traveling from country to country.  There is a lot of intrigue, and it tired me.

In Phantom of the Casino, Harry Grubb, Doris, and Carl travel to the island of Santa Catarina.  At first, they plan to return home immediately, but they instead end up staying for a few days.  While Doris and Carl dance, the rotating reflector ball crashes down onto the dance floor.  Doris and Carl learn of additional accidents plaguing the hotel, and they begin an investigation.

I was quite thrilled so see Carl again.  I love his character.  I also was quite pleased with the setting.  Books set in specific locations without lots of travel are the ones that I enjoy the most.

Reading this book helped me to understand the unfairness of Japanese internment camps during World War II.  When I studied the war in school when I was young, the lessons focused on the Germans and their actions.  The Japanese were mentioned as well along with internment, but internment would have mentioned in a positive fashion.  This story explains how the internment caused Carl's relatives to lose their property.

It is important to note that the author, T. Ernesto Bethancourt, married a Japanese-American woman.

The culprit is surprising.  This is a very good book.